Terms of Use

1. About these Terms

Hilltop is an app for church groups to plan, pray and talk together. It's run by Edward Samolov, an individual in Washington State, USA ("Hilltop", "we", "us" and "our"). "You" means the person using Hilltop.

These Terms of Use, including the Community Guidelines in section 6, are a legal agreement between you and us. They cover the Hilltop app on any device, hilltopapp.com, and anything else we offer that links to them (together, "Hilltop"). The Privacy Policy and the Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy explain how we handle your information.

You accept these Terms by creating an account or by using Hilltop. If you don't agree, don't use Hilltop.

You agree that we can give you these Terms, notices and other communications electronically (in the app, by email or on hilltopapp.com), and that they meet any legal requirement to be in writing.

Hilltop is independent. It isn't owned or run by any church, denomination or ministry and doesn't speak for one, and no church is responsible for it.

2. Who can use Hilltop

Hilltop is for people 13 and older. By creating an account, you confirm you're at least 13. If you're under 18, you confirm a parent or guardian is OK with you using Hilltop.

• Give your real date of birth when you sign up. Your phone works out your age, and Hilltop keeps only your birthday's month and day and whether you're 13–17 or 18 and up.
• Use your real name, or the name your group knows you by. Don't pretend to be someone else.
• One person per account. Don't share your account or use someone else's.
• You may not use Hilltop if you're required to register as a sex offender anywhere, if we've removed you from Hilltop before, or if US law doesn't allow you to use it.

3. Your account

• Keep your sign-in details to yourself. You're responsible for what happens on your account.
• If you think someone else is using your account, change your password and email [email protected].
• Keep your email address current. We use it for important notices about your account and these Terms.
• If you sign in with Apple, Apple's own terms also apply to that sign-in.
• You can delete your account any time: Profile → Delete account. The Privacy Policy (section 7) explains what's erased and what stays.

4. Groups and leaders

Every group has one Leader, who started it or was handed it, and may have Co-leaders and Admins. Leaders decide who joins, can remove people, and can hide posts and messages that don't belong.

Leaders are people using Hilltop like you. They aren't our employees, agents or representatives, and we don't choose, screen, train, supervise or endorse them or their groups.

If you lead a group:

• Use what you see as a leader, including members' phone numbers, birthdays and the reports you receive, only for your group.
• Look at reports about your group and act on them: talk with the person, hide what doesn't belong, or remove them.
• Follow any safety rules of your church or organization, especially for groups with teens.
• Hand the group to someone else before you leave it or delete your account.

5. Meeting in person

• Gatherings, events and plans on Hilltop are organized by groups and their leaders, not by Hilltop. We don't host, run, supervise or check any gathering, place or person.
• Take the same care you would anywhere else: meet in places you trust, and think before sharing your address or meeting someone you don't know. Parents and guardians decide which gatherings their teens attend.
• You're responsible for your own choices and safety, and for how you treat others, online and in person. As far as the law allows, Hilltop isn't responsible for any injury, loss or harm that comes from a gathering or from anyone's conduct, and you release us from claims about disputes between you and other people who use Hilltop.

6. Community Guidelines

Hilltop is built on Hebrews 10:24–25: stir one another up to love and good works, keep meeting together, and encourage one another. Treat people the way you would when you meet in person.

There is no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users. Don't post, send or share:

• Harassment, bullying, threats or intimidation, or anything that encourages someone to hurt themselves or others.
• Hate: attacks on people for their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or a serious illness.
• Sexual content of any kind, and anything that sexualizes a minor.
• Graphic violence, or anything that praises violence or terrorism.
• Someone else's private information without their OK, such as their address, phone number, photos, or a prayer request they shared with the group.
• Spam, scams, sales pitches, chain messages or links to harmful sites.
• Anything illegal, or anything that helps someone break the law, including selling drugs, weapons or other regulated goods.
• Things you don't have the right to share, like someone else's photos, music or paid study materials.
• Impersonation of a person, church or organization.

Don't misuse Hilltop, either. Don't:

• try to break, overload or get around Hilltop's security, or access accounts or data that aren't yours
• copy or collect information from Hilltop with bots, scrapers or other automated tools, or make accounts that way
• use Hilltop to gather information about people, or for advertising or selling, without our written permission
• help or encourage anyone else to do any of these things

Prayer requests are shared in trust. What people share in your group stays in your group.

7. Reporting, moderation and blocking

• Reporting: anything can be reported. Press and hold a message or a person, or use the ⋯ on a post, prayer request or announcement. Reports go to the Hilltop team and, for things shared in a group, to that group's Leader and Co-leaders (unless the report is about them). Only the Hilltop team can see who sent a report.
• Filtering: Hilltop stops hate slurs and explicit sexual words before they're posted. No filter catches everything, so reporting still matters.
• Review: we aim to review every report within 24 hours, and reports that someone may be at risk first.
• Our decisions: we may remove or hide content, and warn, suspend or remove accounts, when we believe something breaks these Terms, when the law requires it, or to protect someone. We decide this at our discretion, with or without notice, depending on how serious it is.
• No duty to monitor: we don't screen content before it's posted and we aren't required to monitor Hilltop, but we may review content to keep Hilltop safe, enforce these Terms and follow the law.
• Leaders can hide posts and messages in their group.
• Blocking: you can block anyone. Their messages and prayer requests are hidden from you, and they can't start a chat with you or add you to one.
• If you think we got a decision wrong, email [email protected] and we'll look at it again.

8. Safety

• Hilltop isn't an emergency service. If someone is in danger, call 911. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
• Not professional advice: what people share on Hilltop, including prayer and encouragement, isn't medical, mental health, legal, financial or other professional advice. For those, see a qualified professional.
• Child safety: there is zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material. We remove it, close the account, and report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), as US law requires.
• Intimate images: if someone shared an intimate image of you without your consent, real or computer-made, email [email protected] with a way to find it (where it was posted, or a description), a statement that it was shared without your consent, your name and how to reach you, and your signature (typing your full name is enough). We remove it, and any copies we can find, within 48 hours of a valid request.
• Law enforcement: we respond to valid legal requests as the Privacy Policy explains.

9. Your content

• It stays yours. You keep ownership of what you post: messages, photos, voice messages, prayer requests, posts and the rest ("your content").
• Our permission to use it: you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, process (for example, shrinking a photo), send and show your content to the people you share it with, only to run Hilltop and keep it safe. The license ends when you or a leader delete the content or you delete your account, except for copies in backups until they expire, content we must keep by law, and copies other people saved themselves.
• Your responsibility: you're responsible for your content, and you confirm you have the right to share it and that it doesn't break these Terms or anyone's rights.
• Other people's content comes from them and reflects their views, not ours. We don't endorse it or promise it's accurate, and you use it at your own risk.
• Feedback: if you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything.

10. Hilltop's rights

• We own Hilltop: its name, logo, design and software. Parts made by others, like fonts and open-source code, keep their own licenses (listed in the app under Profile → Terms & privacy).
• We give you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable license to use Hilltop as intended, under these Terms.
• You may not copy, change, sell or rent Hilltop, or take its software apart (except where the law allows that despite this rule), and you may not use our name or logo in a way that suggests we endorse you.
• We keep every right not expressly given to you in these Terms.

11. Copyright complaints

We respect copyright and respond to notices under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you believe something on Hilltop copies your work without permission, email our copyright agent at [email protected] with:

• your name, mailing address, phone number and email
• the work you own, and where the copy is on Hilltop (the group, chat or post, and the date)
• a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorized by you, your agent or the law
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you own the work or may act for its owner
• your physical or electronic signature

If something of yours was removed by mistake, send a counter-notice to the same address with your contact details, what was removed and where it was, a statement under penalty of perjury that you believe it was removed by mistake or misidentified, your consent to the federal court for your area (or, outside the US, any court where we can be found) and to accept legal papers from the person who complained, and your signature. Unless that person tells us they've gone to court, we may restore the content within 10 to 14 business days.

We may pass a notice on to the person who posted the content. Knowingly false notices or counter-notices can make you liable for damages. We close the accounts of people who infringe again and again.

Copyright agent: Edward Samolov, Hilltop, [email protected].

12. Availability and changes

• Hilltop is free and has no ads. If that ever changes, we'll tell you first, and nothing you've already shared will be used for ads.
• We work to keep Hilltop running and safe, but we may change, add or remove features, set reasonable limits (such as how much can be uploaded), or pause Hilltop for maintenance.
• Test versions (TestFlight) are unfinished and may lose data or stop working.
• Hilltop isn't a backup service. Keep your own copy of anything important.
• Hilltop relies on other companies to run (listed in the Privacy Policy), and links people share open websites we don't control and aren't responsible for.

13. App Store terms

If you got Hilltop from Apple's App Store:

• These Terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple isn't responsible for Hilltop or its content.
• Your license to use Hilltop (section 10) covers Apple devices you own or control, as the App Store's Usage Rules allow.
• Apple has no duty to provide support or maintenance for Hilltop. Questions come to us (section 20).
• If Hilltop fails to meet a warranty that applies by law, you may tell Apple, and Apple will refund the price you paid (Hilltop is free). Apple has no other warranty duty for Hilltop.
• We, not Apple, handle any claims about Hilltop, including product liability, failing a legal or regulatory requirement, consumer protection and privacy, and claims that Hilltop infringes someone's intellectual property.
• You confirm you aren't in a country under a US government embargo, and aren't on a US list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• You'll follow the terms of other services you use with Hilltop, such as your phone or internet provider's.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

14. Ending your use

• You can stop using Hilltop and delete your account at any time.
• We may suspend or end your account if you break these Terms, if the law requires it, to protect others, or if we stop offering Hilltop. We'll tell you why unless doing so would be unsafe or unlawful.
• If we shut Hilltop down, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice in the app where we can.
• Sections 5, 9 (as it describes), 10, 11 and 15 to 19 still apply after your account ends.

15. Disclaimers and limits of liability

16. Your responsibility for claims

As far as the law allows, you'll defend and indemnify Hilltop, Edward Samolov and anyone who helps run Hilltop, and hold them harmless, from claims, losses, damages and costs (including reasonable lawyers' fees) that come from your content, your breaking these Terms or the law, or your conduct toward other people. We'll tell you about any such claim, and we may choose to handle the defense ourselves.

17. Disputes and arbitration

17.1 Talk to us first

Most problems can be solved by talking. Before starting arbitration or a court case, email [email protected] with your name, your account email, what happened and what you're asking for. You and we will try in good faith to settle it within 60 days. This doesn't apply to small claims cases or to urgent requests for a court order.

17.2 Arbitration

If we can't settle it, you and we agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or Hilltop ("dispute") will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, not in court, except as section 17.4 says. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section 17. The American Arbitration Association (adr.org) runs the arbitration under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, and fees follow those rules, which limit what you pay. The arbitration takes place by video, phone or written submissions where the rules allow, or in the county where you live. The arbitrator decides every question, including whether a dispute must be arbitrated, except that a court decides questions about section 17.3 and about opting out. The arbitrator may award the same individual relief a court could, and a court may enter judgment on the award.

17.3 No class actions or jury trials

You and we may bring claims against each other only individually, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated or representative proceeding, and the arbitrator may not combine more than one person's claims. If a court finds this paragraph can't be enforced for a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) is decided by a court under section 17.6 instead of arbitration. If any dispute goes to court, you and we give up the right to a jury trial, as far as the law allows.

17.4 Exceptions

• Either of us may bring an individual case in small claims court if it qualifies.
• Either of us may ask a court to stop someone infringing or misusing intellectual property.
• Claims that the law says can't be arbitrated go to court.

17.5 Opting out

You can opt out of arbitration (sections 17.2 and 17.3) by emailing [email protected] within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms, with your name, your account email and a sentence saying you opt out of arbitration. Opting out doesn't change anything else in these Terms.

17.6 Governing law and courts

The laws of Washington State govern these Terms, without regard to its rules about which law applies, together with the Federal Arbitration Act for arbitration. Any dispute that isn't arbitrated goes only to the state or federal courts in Washington State, and you and we agree to their jurisdiction.

17.7 Time limit

As far as the law allows, a claim must be brought within one year after it arises, or it's permanently barred.

17.8 Changes to this section

If we change this section 17, the change won't apply to a dispute we already knew about, and you may reject it by emailing [email protected] within 30 days of the change.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as Hilltop and the law change. If a change matters, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect, and we may ask you to agree again. The version and date at the top show which Terms are current. If you keep using Hilltop after a change takes effect, the new Terms apply. If you don't agree, stop using Hilltop and delete your account.

19. General terms

• Whole agreement: these Terms are the whole agreement between you and us about Hilltop and replace any earlier ones.
• Severability: if part of these Terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies, and that part is enforced as far as it can be.
• No waiver: if we don't enforce a part right away, we can still enforce it later.
• Transfer: you can't transfer these Terms or your account. We may transfer them, for example to a company that takes over running Hilltop, and we'll tell you if that happens.
• Events outside our control: we aren't responsible for delays or failures caused by things we can't reasonably control, such as outages at our service providers, internet or power failures, natural disasters or government action.
• Notices: we send notices in the app or to your account email. You send notices to [email protected].
• Reading these Terms: headings are for convenience; "including" means "including but not limited to".
• No one else: apart from Apple (section 13), no one else has rights under these Terms, and nothing in them makes us partners, employer and employee, or agents of each other.
• Export: you'll follow US export and sanctions laws when using Hilltop.

20. Contact